Viola started laughing. "You know, the 'sing until it's ears bleed'? It might actually be true for me." Anyway, what Helena said..it kinda made sense. Those tasks are useful only for those silly things. Definitely not for defending yourself against Dark Arts. Bleh. Now, who would make Lord Borr understand?

"See? That was my point," Helena said, grinning. "And what else... Karate. That's good in case we forget our wands at... home." Yes, as if that is EVER going to happen. So... yes. Those tasks had finally made sense for Helena.

Buuuut anyway. "How've you been lately?" She asked, trying to forget for a moment about those tasks. "We didn't really get the chance to talk with all those classes and that lot of homework."

Renée still hadn't really allowed herself to think of the things that were on her mind, although planning her lessons and grading assignments had made that rather easy. Distractions always did, but now that it was December, and past her birthday, she felt the need to try and take some time for herself. Time to try and focus on things that weren't related to her classes, even if there was still Divination-related subjects involved. She rarely ever got conflicting readings, but now she'd had several. Either she herself was confused, or there was something definitely going down that was clouding everything else. Of course, the ship and everything could explain that. It certainly seemed like something that could affect things.

Deciding the best place for her to think was out in the grounds, she'd headed toward the front gate. Change of scenery from her usual haunts, but she'd still glanced toward the lake and the ship as she'd passed. She still had her curiosity toward that, but now was not the time for that. So she'd continued on her way through the grounds, only to grin as she saw one of the people at the gate. Apparently her alone time was destined to not happen. "Only you would think snow-covered ground was comfortable to sit on," she commented, slightly teasing, as she walked over to look down at him lounging there.

There was no other explanation for it: there had to be a law governing solitude that ensured he couldn't be alone, if he attempted to be so. This wasn't the first time Renée had showed up when he had least expected her to. Then again, he couldn't exactly say he had any complaints. Jared smiled, one of those rare genuine smiles, removing his hands from behind his head.

"Did you intend to make that sound like a prediction?" He asked, the smile still lurking around his mouth. Then he added, "I don't suppose those are snowshoes?"

Had he intended to sound that teasing?

Yes.

Lazy grin.

Of course, the thought that she was interrupting anything hadn't really occurred to Renée, but then, it was Jared. There was almost no way she'd not talk to him, even if it was still a bit confusing. And, his smile seemed to show that at least if she had interrupted deep thoughts or anything, there were no hard feelings. She knew him well enough to know she wouldn't have gotten one of the genuine ones if there had been.

If the smile hadn't told her, the teasing certainly would have. "As a matter of fact, no. No predictions here, just an innocent observation," she replied with another smile playing across her face. "And anything can be snowshoes, with the appropriate charms and a good sense of balance." That had been entirely facetious, especially as she knew there wasn't much behind it. Just the usual teasing, which made things more comfortable.

She had taken his words as semi-facetious, and her smile told him as much. "I don't find that hard to believe at all," Jared said, unable to keep the light mischief out of his voice. He did find it hard to believe that a remark of Renée's could have no hidden layers. Or so, at least, the touch of teasing in his tones said at the moment.

It was hard to tell what was going on in her mind, but Jared smiled, a faint sort of smile, as she responded. "I'd imagine something quite similar could be said about certain people being finding snow-covered ground comfortable to sit on - appropriate charms, and a good sense of aesthetics." He held out a gloved hand. "Would the mademoiselle care to join me?"

Another grin crept onto Renée's face at Jared's response to her claim of having only made an innocent observation. "Of course not," she parried. There almost always were hidden meanings in half of their conversations, and while actually, for once, she hadn't had much more than just teasing him about his choice of location to sit down, she didn't blame him for wondering otherwise.

She couldn't imagine him having any idea of what had been bothering her, for which she had to be grateful he didn't share her abilities. Or, at least she didn't think he'd suddenly developed it, because she had a feeling he'd use it against her just as another form of teasing. Instead, it seemed, the teasing was just going to be about her choice of footwear, and she echoed his smile at his comment. "I can't argue with that. Especially when I'm talking to the expert on charms," she said impishly, before raising an eyebrow at the offer. "Can I imagine that those charms you mentioned are in fact in play?," she asked as she took his offered hand. It wasn't that she was particularly concerned about sitting on the ground. Or the snow, really, but she needed to keep up the façade if she wanted her teasing to not be proven wrong.

"Of course not," Jared agreed. He didn't sound the opposite of believing, did he now?

Expert? "I'm honoured." He pretended to bow, or at least semi-bow, considering that he was still seated. The thought that he couldn't tell what was going on in her mind was still there, but he brushed it off as she accepted the hand he'd held out. "I expect it's better than the alternative," he said, his answer neither a yes, nor a no. She'd find out herself in a second or two, after all. Besides, even if certain charms hadn't been cast, he'd have cast them before she sat down. It wasn't a matter of condescension. She could do that for herself, if she wanted to. Just part of who he was.

He let go of her hand - he might have let his own linger for a moment, just a moment, too long there, but that couldn't have been on purpose - and half-turned to look at her. "How have you been?"

"You know, I think physical training is okay.." Viola said, rather doubtfully. Yeah. "But..singing, dancing and talking to a mirror seem really stupid."

"Well, I've been good, I guess.." Viola said, with a smile. Yep. She was doing fine. Just really stressed about things, that's all. "How about you? How have you been?" Viola asked, thinking that she hadn't seen her friend in a long time.

"And I think exactly the opposite," Helena said quickly, grinning. "I mean... about the physical training and the singing and dancing. But anyway, all of those tasks are pretty much useless." Unless everyone had Helena's rich imagination. Rolling into a dementor and singing until its ears bleed. Yup. She definitely had a rich imagination.

"I've been good as well," the girl said, smiling back at Viola. "What do you think about the new professors?" She suddenly asked, obviously referring to the other new professors. Not Lord Borr.

Now Jared had taken to echoing her, which made Renée wonder if he knew she had her suspicions about if her really hadn't belived it all or not. It didn't metter either way, as the whole situation was just, well, normal for them. Teasing, that sort of thing; getting to use the little tones of voice and such that weren't always appropriate to use with the students. Not when they weren't sure how the students might take teasing. There were a few she thought wouldn't mind it.

She'd grinned again as he'd responded to her mischievous flattery, though. "Well, you're the Charms professor after all," she reminded him, like that meant the idea he was an expert was commonplace. She had a feeling there were some who thought she was an expert in Divination, and something told her Treyen thought she was an expert in research. That amused her, if the other idea didn't as much. But back to her conversation with Jared, and she regarded him for a moment as he'd responded to her vague acceptance of his offer before raising an eyebrow slightly. "That would depend on the alternative," she replied, a faint smile appearing on her face yet again as she settled next to him. The completely unsaid part was that the charms he'd mentioned didn't really matter, as she'd cast a couple on herself before heading out into the snow in the first place. At least to avoid ending up wet and cold.

There were other things that she couldn't exactly help, and a slightly puzzled look crossed her face at that little moment before he'd turned to her. But her expression was perfectly open when he did. "I've been good. Nothing out of the ordinary," she replied. Referring at least to her interaction with the students, if not everything else. "You?"

The opposite, eh? Well, everyone has different opinions. Viola thought physical training made sense in a way. But, she still wasn't happy about it.

The new professors? Viola snorted. "You know, they are all weird. Especially, the chainsaw one." Woah. That class was absolutely hilarious. And, the professor was just...funny. Yep. That was the right word. "What do you think of them?", Viola asked with a smile.

Kyle couldn't help but laugh as the snowball flew straight past her head. Landing right where she had been two seconds earlier - brilliant timing.

”Hey Caroline!” She smiled, as she quietly, made a snowball herself, lucky her fingerless mittens’ glove-cover was hatched closed. Mhm it was on. ”So what are you up to?” She asked as she took a skip-like step over. Before throwing the snowball purposely off place so it wouldn’t even go near Caroline.

She didn’t watch where it went it could have hit some innocent bystander but Kyle was happy to see her friend. Knowing her little gift was safely tucked in her trunk ready to be given closer to the holiday break.

The chainsaw one? ChainSHAAAAAW? Eh, he was... fun. His lesson... interesting. Different. Helena wondered what was he going to do in the next lesson. Maybe cut them all into small pieces with his chainshaw.

"They're alright," Helena shrugged. "I like the Care of Magical Creatures one," she said, suddenly remembering about the beauuuutiiiifuuul Rosamund and that great lesson. "Professor Christiansen is alright as well," she said with another shrug. You know, Helena could start learning Norwegian in his classes.

Well, Viola liked calling the guy Chainsaw and..he was just so funny. Sometimes, she kinda wondered why he joined in the first place. He didn't seem too interested in teaching them..anyway, they were stuck with him for the rest of the term. Hopefully, the remaining classes were more...hilarious! Yep.

Christiansen? Yeah, right. "Umm..he is okay, I guess." Viola didn't really like him as well. The only professor she liked was Lafay. She was great. The others were...alright.

Viola said something, but Helena didn't quite hear.

Before she knew what she was doing, she bent down until her fingertips were touching the snow on the ground and made two small snowballs, holding one in each hand.

Was she going to start a snowball fight against Viola? The girl had no idea. All she knew was that she had two snowballs in her hands, ready to fight. Unless Viola started the war, she'll just fiddle around with them.

Oh-oh! What was Helena doing with snowballs? Did she want to have a snow fight?

"Umm..Helena? What are you doing with snowballs in your hand?" Viola asked, looking warily at her hands.

What was she doing? Eh, juuuust playing around with them.

An evil looking grin suddenly spread across Helena's face, as she took a glimpse of the two snowballs she was still holding in her hands. Then, she looked back at Viola and threw one of them at her. Did it hit her? Helena didn't know, because she was already making a few steps backwards, careful not to trip over something and fall, just in case Viola went mad and wanted a real snow war.

And... "Ahh," she muttered, as she accidentally clutched the other snowball and destroyed it in her hand. She'd better run away now.

Yep. Helena was definitely looking to start a snowball fight with her. Viola stepped back, before the first snowball hit her in the stomach. "Ouch." Viola muttered, before she bent down and made a snowball. Annnd, she threw it!

Viola looked at her and yeah. The snowball found it's mark. WOOT. A snowball fight! She made another snowball and waited.

EEEEEEEEP!

The snowball was coming... it was slowly getting closer... and closer... and Helena tried to avoid it... and it hit her anyway. In the left arm, to be more exact.

She couldn't stop herself from grinning and giggling. This meant WAR.

The girl bent down as quick as she could and made a snowball, a lot bigger than she intended it to be. Eh, the bigger, the better. She threw it towards Viola, but this one went... wrong. As wrong as it was possible. She watched as it was slowly tearing apart as it was flying towards her friend, and wondered whether there was something left of her snowball until it reached Viola.

She'd better run away.

Viola started laughing. Oh! This was fun. Really fun.

She saw as Helena made another snowball and it was now flying towards her. But..when it finally hit her, it didn't really hurt. Now, it was her chance!

Viola immediately threw her snowball towards Helena, although she wasn't sure if it would really hit her. Helena seemed to be running away. Viola immediately started moving forward, another snowball ready in her hand.

And away she ran.

Another snowball was getting closer to her, but it was a good thing that she was the biggest coward in the world kept running, so the snowball didn't reach her. HAHAAA!

When Helena finally felt safe, she made another snowball, a normal one this time, and threw it again towards Viola. And then... she made another step and...

... fell.

"Oww," she groaned, even though it didn't hurt that bad. But Helena suddenly had an evil plan. "Viola?" She asked, almost whispering and looking really hurt. "I think I've twisted my ankle." She could be a very good actress sometimes. If only Viola knew...

Noooo! The snowball didn't hit Helena after all. Fail. Why did she keep running? Anyway..

Viola kept moving forward, although Helena's snowball hit her. Yep, she definitely had to get it right this time. She raised her hand to throw her snowball when Helena fell.

OMG! Viola dropped her snowball and ran towards Helena. "Are you okay?" Viola looked concerned when she kneeled down and looked at her friend. Twist her ankle? Oh. "You want to go to the Hospital wing?" Viola hoped she wasn't seriously injured or something.

Uh oh. Maybe this was not working, because Viola seemed ready to throw another snowball at her. But... no, she didn't. She fell riiiiight into Helena's trap.

Helena was about to start giggling as Viola was approaching her, but she didn't. If the first part of plan A worked, she had to stick with it. And in case it didn't work, there was always the famous plan B. Run away.

When the girl kneeled next to her, a smirk appeared on Helena's face. "GOTCHA!" She suddenly said, carefully pushing Viola so she would fall in the snow, and soon be covered in it. Of course, she made sure there was nothing around on which Viola could fall and hurt herself. Besides, she didn't even push her hard.

Viola started to be suspicious of this whole incident. Helena didn't really cry out or anything when she fell. But, before she could tell Helena anything, she pushed her into the snow. NO!

How could she fall for this? Bleh. "Ouch!" Viola was laughing, though. She managed to sit on the ground, covered with snow, from head to toe. "That's so not fair!" Viola grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at Helena, still laughing. "Take that!"